Alton’s Adam Kane (right) and Edwardsville’s Kyle Wright, shown in a Redbirds victory Oct. 1 in Alton, joined their teams in Class 3A regional soccer play Tuesday with Alton at Quincy and Edwardsville on its home field.

Scott Kane / For The Telegraph

JACKSONVILLE — Marquette Catholic senior goalkeeper Brandon Sanfilippo said he didn’t want Tuesday’s regional semifinal against Jacksonville to be the last match of his high school career.

“It’s my senior year — I just wanted to win,” Sanfilippo said. “I didn’t want it to be my last game.”

Sanfilippo helped make sure he and the rest of the Explorers get at least one more match, recording a shutout in Marquette’s 1-0 victory over the host Crimsons in the semifinals of the Jacksonville Class 2A Regional. Marquette improved to 12-6-4.

The sixth-seeded Explorers will play sub-sectional seed No. 2 Chatham Glenwood for the regional title at 6 p.m. Friday in Jacksonville. Glenwood beat Taylorville 11-0 in the other semifinal Tuesday.

“We’re just taking it one game at a time,” Sanfilippo said. “Win the regional final. That’s about it.”

Marquette got a goal from Zach Weinman in the 60th minute that ended up being the game-winner.

“Zach Weinman has been a leader for us all year long,” Marquette coach Jeremy Sanfilippo said. “And he got the opportunity. He made a nice placement, into the upper-left corner. I think that’s what we needed — as a confidence booster, and to take us even further in the playoffs.”

Brandon Sanfilippo, the coach’s son, finished with six saves against Jacksonville (13-9), with several coming late in the game as the Explorers were clinging to a one-goal lead. The Crimsons put a solid shot on goal with just over a minute left in the match, but Sanfilippo dove to his left to make the save, and then got in front of another one on a rebound attempt.

Sanfilippo also made a diving save on a header early in the half that kept the score tied at 0-0. Sanfilippo said the key to making those clutch saves was concentration. “I just react and make the saves as best I can,” he said.

Coach Sanfilippo said he was proud of his son for the way he played.

“I’m proud of him — no matter what, I’m proud of him,” the coach said. “He came up huge in the first half when they had a two-on-zero break on us, and I think that set the stage.”

The scoreless first half was a defensive standoff. Both teams had good chances early in the second half, but neither could punch one in. More and more it looked like the team that scored first would end up winning the match. It did.

Quincy 3, Alton 1 – The host Blue Devils earned a title date with top-seeded Collinsville by eliminating the Redbirds in a semifinal of the Quincy Class 3A Regional at Flinn Stadium.

Bradyn Nokes, who scored twice to give Quincy a 2-0 halftime lead, completed his hat trick early in the second half and the Devils pushed their record to 15-4-2. Matt Bauer scored for Alton eight minutes into the half to cut the deficit to 3-1, but the rally would end there. Alton, which closed its season with six straight defeats, bows out at 9-10-3.

Edwardsville 3, Belleville East 0 – The Tigers came through with some much-needed offense to put away the Lancers in an Edwardsville Class 3A Regional semifinal game at the District 7 Sports Complex.

After 50 minutes of scoreless Class 3A regional soccer, the Tigers got two goals from Max Kieffer in a three-minute span and added another by Austin Toby to set up a regional title date with O’Fallon on Saturday.

Edwardsville improves to 11-6-4 after entering postseason 0-4-1 in its last five matches. East ends its season at 3-14-3. O’Fallon advanced by defeating Belleville West 3-0.

Rob Evans of the Jacksonville Journal-Courier contributed to this story

Staff report

Alton’s Adam Kane (right) and Edwardsville’s Kyle Wright, shown in a Redbirds victory Oct. 1 in Alton, joined their teams in Class 3A regional soccer play Tuesday with Alton at Quincy and Edwardsville on its home field.

http://www.thetelegraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_1021AltonEdwSoccer.jpgAlton’s Adam Kane (right) and Edwardsville’s Kyle Wright, shown in a Redbirds victory Oct. 1 in Alton, joined their teams in Class 3A regional soccer play Tuesday with Alton at Quincy and Edwardsville on its home field. Scott Kane / For The Telegraph

Rob Evans of the Jacksonville Journal-Courier contributed to this story